Tuesday, July 03, 2018

There’s a lot for freedom-loving Americans not to like about Islam - intolerance of non-Muslims by demanding their subjugation or death, terrorism, barbaric treatment of its own, with excessively savage punishments for slight offenses, oppressive treatment of women and total subjugation, humiliation and abuse of gays, who are often punished by brutal death.

Some examples: Asia Bibi, Pakistan, accused of blasphemy by co-workers, sentenced to death by hanging; Shahbaz Bhatti and Salman Taseer, assassinated for objecting to this; Farkhunda Malikzada, Afghanistan, falsely accused of burning a Qu’ran, beaten to death by a mob; Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, Jakarta, imprisoned 2 years for a speech; Mashal Khan, Pakistan, accused of online blasphemy, killed by mob; Ahmad al Shamri, Saudi Arabia, renounced Islam on social media, sentenced to death, Fatima Naoot, Egyptian poet, 3 years in prison, Gillian Gibbons, British school teacher in Sudan sentenced to death for allowing children to name a teddy bear “Mohammed” (she was released to the British embassy).

Fatwahs (death warrants) have been issued for author Salman Rushdie, cartoonists Molly Norris, Kurt Westergaard, Lars Vilks, Carsten Juste, Fleming Rose . . . and of course we all know about Charlie Hebdo, where 12 people were assassinated in Paris in 2015. In Britain a man sentenced to a year in prison for a “hate crime” of leaving a bacon sandwich outside a mosque in Bristol was murdered by Muslim inmates within 6 months.

In Islam you can get in trouble for a lot of things: speaking ill of Allah, faulting Mohammed, insulting other prophets mentioned in the Qu’ran or claiming to be a prophet, any depiction of Mohammed, writing his name on a restroom wall, naming a pet or a teddy bear “Mohammed”. You are guilty of blasphemy if you criticize Islam, question the truth of the Qu’ran, take issue with praying five times a day or even if you call Islam an “Arab” religion. Also “haram” are belief in reincarnation or transmigration of the soul or simply not believing in afterlife. A Muslim is not to participate in another religion’s festivals, publish “unauthorized” (how do they do that?) versions of the Qu’ran, be amused by Islamic custom, practice yoga . . . there are more, but it might be easier to find things that are not “haram” (forbidden). You have almost certainly committed blasphemy in someone’s eyes.

Besides outright “blasphemy” as alluded to above, anything you say that is “insensitive” or insulting or unfavorable to Islam or Muslim persons is suspect and likely to be silenced, as was Tommy Robinson - and it’s coming here.

Opponents of Shari’a, the official code of conduct for Islam, have been tried for exercising their right of expression: Geert Wilders, member of the Dutch Parliament; Austrian Elisabeth Sabatisch-Wolff; Lars Hedegaard in Denmark, Oriana Fallaci in Italy and Brigitte Bardot in France. Paul Weston, LGB, was arrested for quoting Winston Churchill on Islam and critical journalists are being banned from Britain for life.

In May, 2018, England’s Tommy Robinson was arrested livestreaming outside a courthouse in Leeds, where the trial of a rape and sex trafficking gang was ongoing. Robinson criticized his government’s failure to protect young girls from Muslim traffickers. He’s now a political prisoner.

In Plano, TX, a city councilman tweeted about Islam (but not Christianity) taught in the public schools. He was reamed out by the mayor and the local Muslim leaders and published an abject apology. Facebook has suspended Jamie Glazov for posting a video of a threat by a Muslim and by Twitter for quoting the Qu’ran and Hadith. Even Islam’s own teachings are grounds to be banned! Jihad Watch was demonitized by PayPal, their feature articles taken down by Youtube. Newspapers decline to print letters questioning refugee resettlement. Europe is rapidly adopting Islamic blasphemy laws, de facto or de jure, and America’s catching up to them. We’re at risk.